Tagged Questions

My cousins are Orthodox (black-hat/yeshivish/live in Passaic) and one of them is having a Bat Mitzvah in November. I have never attended an Orthodox Bat Mitzvah, so I don't really know what to expect.
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When a person gets an aliyah or other synagogue privilege the congregants of an Ashkenazic synagogue generally thanks him by saying "Shokyach!" or "Yasherkoach!" to which he responds "Baruch Tehiye!".
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Say you're in a business meeting with a gentile. Food is served (kosher of course!). How can you go about reciting the before and after blessings without causing any embarrassment or awkwardness to ...

Many Jews write BS"D or בס"ד (standing for בסיעתא דשמיא meaning "with God's help") or something similar at the top of all documents. As far as I am aware, there is no halacha that requires anything ...

My daughter was reading a parsha book and came across a certain medrash which seemed unbelievable prompting her to ask me 'daddy, is this story real?' Being that she is only nine I took the cheap way ...

My boss and I are Muslims, one day some brave Jewish man walked into our shop and asked if we can do business together. I say brave as he is a conservative religion-wise you can tell from the way he ...

I currently work in an environment where colleagues (irreligious and/or not Jewish) are consuming produce that has shemittah sanctity. They often throw their left over food directly in the bin with ...

Given the significant cost of Jewish day-school tuition (at least in the US) and the negative experience that some students have in those day schools (I'm speaking from my own experience as well as ...

Certain halachic issues are informed or even determined by the social standards of the (non-Jewish) society in which one lives. Examples include what falls under the prohibition of cross-dressing (see ...

I have encountered the author of Tehillim referred to directly as David HaMelekh. However, on no small number of occasions, I've also encountered the author of Tehillim referred to as "The Psalmist" ...

Halacha states that if a person eats a raw vegetable where it is not customarily eaten raw, one says "shehakol" rather than "ha'admah"? What criteria decide"custom"? Does this rule change? E.g. - a ...

For questions where I'm supposed to consult my local orthodox rabbi, if there isn't one, what am I supposed to do? There is a LOR in the city where I live (a Chabad shliach) but he frequently declares ...

I was wondering how to say Ah freilichen Purim in proper English.
Is it universal like Gut Yomtiv (or is that also an assumption...) or do you just say Have a Happy Purim - the literal translation. ( ...

I am an atheist (not Jewish) and my soon-to-be wife is Jewish (Ashkenazi of Polish ascent). She doesn't practice, and she says she is not a believer. We are French and live in Paris. This may or may ...

In dealing with issues relating to Tzeni'uth (modesty) and clothing, a lot depends on "local" standards of dress. For example, the RaMBa"M (here) explains that in places where women do not normally go ...

The context: last year, I saw this sign that announced the time and place that a Jewish Seder (probably Yom Kippur) would happen. I was definitely curious and considered going and at least observing ...

Rosh HaShanah has two opposite aspects, one of judgment, and one of Yom Tov. We spend the day(s) in prayer and literally plead for our lives. Yet we eat festive meals and drink wine for Kiddush.
Is ...

How can a teenage girl, who recently started practicing the laws of tzniut as well as feasible, balance those laws with the prohibition against embarrassing her family members, who are embarrassed to ...

Background
While on vacation recently, I was walking down the street with a newly acquainted co-traveler, when we were approached by a young Lubavitch Yeshivah student encouraging Jewish men to lay ...

Standards of dress (at least for women) aren't nearly as consistent within Orthodoxy as we might wish. Wearing exactly the same halachically-correct clothing I have been under-dressed in some places ...